Shirley Holmes' Curse
by tania15
Summary: After Shirley gets into a public fight with Bo things turn for the worst. And now a mysterious phone call from her grandfather has Shirley investigating alone. But what happens if the call was a warning for danger? ON HIATUS. Read note
1. A phone call for miranda

Disclaimer; I do not own Shirley Holmes or any of it's characters. I only own the plot idea. Suing me would be useless and a waste of time.

All right here's the retype of the first chapter. I know it took a while but finally it's here and done with. I want you all to know that if somethings don't seem to be like Shirley behaviour it's normal cause that is the idea behind those particular scenes. Thanks for being patient. Some of the content was considerably changed so watch out.

Prologue; Phone call for Miranda

"You always do this, why cant you just keep your nosey little butt out of my life for once!"

"But—"

"No, buts Shirley! I'm sick of this. God! Why do you have to be such a pain in the ass.»

By now everyone in the hall had turned to watch the brewing fight between the two best friends.

The blond Ukrainian boy was screaming his head off so much you could feel the rage coming off of him in waves. As for the brown haired girl who he was screaming at was seemingly trying to calm him down but to no avail.

"Look Bo, I'm just trying to—"

"Your just trying to make sure I'll stay still like a good boy!"

"I nev—"

"Cut it Shirley. You know when Molly said I was just your lap dog I didn't believe it, but now I see how wrong I've been."

"Bo just let me explain."

"Explain, EXPLAIN! EXPLAIN WHAT? THAT YOU'RE JEALOUS THAT I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND AND THAT YOUR STUCK PLAYING THIRD WHEEL. JEALOUS THAT I CANT AND WONT RUN TO YOU WHENEVER YOU CALL FOR HELP, THAT INSTEAD I MIGHT ACTUALLY ENJOY SPENDING TIME AWAY FROM YOU, AWAY FROM ALL YOUR NEUROTIC-ECCENTRIC NEEDS TO FIND OUT EVERY GOD DAMN SECRET IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT TO EXPLAIN!"

What a minute ago seemed to be understanding, patience and comfort written on her face slowly turned into anger sadness and rebellion. But she still tried to maintain her cool demeanour.

"If-"

"Look Shirley I don't want to hear it. Truth is your just a selfish, nosey, little Sherlock Holmes wanna be brat."

The whole school hall was quiet every student waited with baited breath to see what would happen next.

It was hard, but if you looked close enough you could see one single tear slip down the girl's face. To every ones shocks, she did another thing that nobody would expect. She raised her hand and punched the boy in the face.

Four months later…

It was a bright and sunny morning. The sunrays somehow manage to brake threw the curtains and beam their golden light on a sleeping girl. Strands of long brown hair were spread all across the bed's pillows. As the sunrays grew brighter and brighter we could see slight movement emanating from the girl's body. Finally after what seemed like an eternity the girl's eyes fluttered open to reveal bright, mesmerizing, ocean blue orbs. Her skin was a pale yet very healthy looking type of colour. Her lips, with their natural raspberry like colour to them, looked as sweet as they could be.

To tell the truth, you'd have to be either a fool or blind to not be able to see that the sleeping girl was a beauty, that seem to be a kin to a fairy's joyful colour as well as an angel's innocence and a personality as sweet as honey, yet they were. People who saw her or knew her tended to let her strange behaviour, odd clothing and unique taste in hats cloud their vision of what she was. A magical beauty from the heaven above. In fact most boys including her EX-best friend, seemed to have forgotten that she is a female all together, probably courtesy of her sharp mind and superior intelligence.

Anyways, slowly waking up from her slumber, the girl began to stretch when her sight fell upon the alarm clock. As she saw that it indicated eight-thirty-seven a.m., her blue orbs widened with surprise as realisation of having over slept on a Tuesday morning kicked in.

Shirley Holmes hurriedly got dressed and ran to the garage. Their she turned the ignition of her car on and started driving towards Sussex. The car that she was presently driving was a dark blue sports car, she had received it by shipping on her sixteenth birthday as present from her only living grandfather. It was really flashy and noticeable, the young sleuth had often thought of exchanging it for a more common car. But then again she rarely used it, as she preferred to take her bike to go unnoticed.

In fact this was going to be the first time that she drove it to school. Shirley could only imagine the looks she would get, as her fellow classmates would see her drive up to Sussex in this thing, but then again she didn't care of what they thought of her. The only persons she cared at all for had all betrayed her. The way they did it had left no room for her to forgive them. Ever.

«He» had yelled at her and called her names in front of the entire academy and «They» had stucked on his side for the reason that all of them thought that she was being a jealous brat. The person that provoked such a commotion, you might ask; Heather.

Shirley had always had an odd feeling of danger whenever in near premises of that girl. When Bo had announced that they were officially dating the young detective could no longer keep it to herself. So she did a background check. Once her suspicions of the girl being trouble were confirmed Shirley had decided to inform Bo. Bad idea.

To put it simple nobody at Sussex talked to her anymore, they were all to busy talking behind her back as she walked by them. The funny part is that they all seemed to think that she was oblivious to their mockering and hushed voices. But she knew, yet no longer cared, the thought of their stupidity came to her each time her classmates would pretend that they had not been previously discussing her.

At school…

As the sleuth previously assumed her fellow classmates had all noticed her new ride. Some said that she was hoping to get more popular with it while some believed that she was just showing off.

Most of them however just stood there mouth agape and eyes wide open. It is in this category of people that she found Bo, Molly, Heather, Alicia, Bart and Stink. It was literally amusing to the young sleuths eyes.

She just spared them a pointed look while a grin plastered its self firmly upon her face. She even had a twinkle in her eyes.

And then of course to ruin that perfect moment Luke Gregalsky showed up. He was one of Bos team mates. A little over a month ago he had, for some unknown reason, started jeering and whistling whenever she was near.

It's true that lately she found herself taking more care of her appearance but not that much. She has altered her uniform a bit, making her shirt hang at her hips and riding it up so the hem of it would fall mid-thigh. Shirley had also worked a bit on her blazer making it more feminine to a point where it clings to her body. She also wore blouses that fit her like a second skin along with her tie hung loose.

But other then those small clothes alteration and a dab of make-up and lip-gloss there was nothing else… Well there is this small thing with her hair that was presently up in a sophisticated ponytail, but she had no control over that. About three weeks ago her hair had started to curl, not in a tight and frizzy way but loose and soft.

Those where the ONLY alterations she had physically, all of which where for more practical reasons then people thought. Twice her old blazer had gotten stuck in loose nails while on different cases. She had figured if she made it fit to her body there would be lesser chances of that happening again. As for the blouses, well she couldn't exactly wear a baggy blouse with a tight blazer now could she?

As for the skirt she practically tripped over it at least a dozen times while crouching down on the floor so much it was long.

And finally she had to keep her hair out of her face to see properly, somehow, right?

Okay, so maybe all her alterations weren't so insignificant. But that did not mean she asked for this. Now usually Luke Gregalsky kept his abuse on a verbal level but not today.

"Hey Holmes, looking good today!"

Was what he said as he came closer and closer to her with a look of utter mischief on his face.

"What do you want Gregalsky?"

She was going to have to confront him sooner or later, she chose sooner, that way at least it would be over and done with.

He didn't answer right away. He just strutted towards her and placed his hands on her butt and squeezed.

"You"

Shirley tried to wiggle out of his grip but couldn't. She was now smacked against his chest in a painful hug.

She looked over her shoulder to see the faces of the people she used to call friends. Alicia was looking as if she thought Shirley had brought this upon herself. Bart was looking from his book on aliens to Shirley and her attacker all the while probably trying to ignore the disturbing sight. Stink, with the way his mind works, seemed to believe that this was all a joke created to make Shirley look like a fool and laughed whole heartedly. Molly and Heather being as cynical as they are just laughed and pointed at her in a rather ridiculous manner. But when she saw Bo, that's when something in the young detective's mind just went snap.

He was looking directly at the scene but didn't act as if there was anything wrong with it. As if she was just some common Sussex slut who was getting what she asked for.

Her body tensed and the expression on her face became blanc. Gone was any known emotion from her face. It was as if nothing was going on. It was such a quick change in behaviour that it took any and all onlookers by surprise.

You could no longer hear the laughter or anything else. Everybody was quietly waiting to see what was happening next.

The girl turned her head around and looked directly into Bo Sawchucks eyes and smirked in a mysterious way.

Bos mouth was agape, even if he had been best friends with Shirley for about four years he hadn't known that her entire being could go from panic stricken filled with fear to an emotionless doll within the second.

As if that wasn't enough that smirk just threw the boy in for another hoop. He had never seen her face in such a way but knew instantly it meant not only business but also a dangerous one at that.

And then it happened

Shirley Holmes brought her knee up and kneed Luke Gregalsky directly in the balls with the force of a couple of well-aimed bricks.

Bo was speechless and had a lot of trouble catching his breath. The girl in question looked at his face and that smirk just got wider and wider until she turned around and walked away.

Let's see Sussex winning that championship tomorrow with the team's starting quarterback on ice. 

Was the only thought the brunette haired girl had.

Shirley's Diary

Today was like any other day I've spent at school since the fight between Bo and me with the difference of the Luke thing. Most of the students talking behind my back. Molly constantly trying to gain more «power» over the student population. Alicia and Bart ignoring me. Stink shouting, « Molly's the best you suck » whenever he sees me, and the snickers that comes afterwards. Heather casting me glares and words of hate, not that I care what she thinks. And finally Bo, he keeps telling everybody that I treated him like he was my lap dog. Whenever somebody mentions my name to him he responds by saying that am self- centered. And finally when he sees me he either sends me an evil glance or completely ignores my presence. I was a to think that our friendship would, but somehow I managed to convince myself that it would………

Dring-Dring-Dring

The phone rang and as soon as it did Shirley picked it up, because no else would. Her parents were in England co-working on some government project and her grandmother was site-seeing Egypt for the fourth time. Leaving the house all to herself.

" hello---"

Shirley was trying to finish her sentence but the person cut her off.

" Thank the lord! Your there! Now listen to me Miranda you need to get out of the house as soon as you can the hell fairy's wont wait much longer to send you------- "

" Grandpa is that you?"

" YES! Now pack your bags and go before it's too late. PLEASE MOTHER!"

The very second that phrase was said you could hear muffled voices telling somebody to get off the phone and that they weren't aloud to call anybody. With that the line went dead. Leaving behind a very confused yet curious Shirley to dwell by herself.


	2. Tracking down a grandfather

It was late afternoon on a Thursday, two days had past since that mysterious phone call she had received. Ever since Shirley has been on detective overdrive, she had been tracking down the location in which the phone call was placed. It was rather hard considering it seemed to be a private number, but hey that never stopped her.

Unfortunately Shirley had had trouble being able to concentrate on the mystery at hand or any mystery for that matter. She has no idea why but for over a month now she has been unable to work on any mystery. It's as if she has lost interest in crime solving all together.

Shirley sighted, deciding that a brake from her computer screen would be good. She got up and started to walk towards the stairs when she stumbled on something. Shirley bent down to pick up the offending object. Once her eyes set upon it she froze in place.

It was a framed picture. The picture had been taken at the Quazar café. There, in the picture staring back at her were the faces of Alicia, Bart, Stink, Bo and herself all squeezed inside a booth with smiles on their faces.

Shirley just stood there staring at the photo in a daze. It took her a minute to snap out of it and as soon as she did it was like she was on autopilot.

Shirley walked towards a corner of the attic and picked up a large empty box, a permanent maker and a pair of scissor. After picking up the picture and venting some steam on the faces of those people she had actually considered her friends at one time, she cut out her face and dumped the newly improved photo in the box. Doing so she continued on her way.

Shirley made her way through the entire house picking up anything that had any relation with Bo or the others and dumped it into the box. She found herself in need of more than one box, before Shirley knew it she had filled up several large boxes and was not done yet, she still had her room and the attic to clean out.

But each time she had found an object that she would store away in the boxes a memory past threw her head. And each time she suppressed it, pushing them away and slowly erasing them from her mind, like Sherlock use to do with invaluable information. That's all they were now, a waste of memory space.

She knew it was not healthy to ignore your problems and try to let them slip away, but she couldn't deal with this, not now, not ever.

She could still feel the aching in her body from having trusted people who betrayed her. She just couldn't remember why? Why had she trusted THEM? She had known from the beginning that friends where an unpredictable commodity that she could not afford to have. But still she let her mind play it's games on her and got what she deserved for it. Friends until the end, there's no such thing. There's only betrayal and it's brother pain.

Some people went easy on themselves when they made a mistake but not her. No, not Shirley Holmes, she was a detective she could not afford mistakes. Cause in the real world she knew that mistakes always carried horrible consequences some more deathly then others. But you'd be hard pressed to make her admit that, even if it was the truth. It was a truth to terrible to think about at her age even if it's constantly whispering in the back of her mind.

The point being was that if they somehow by some miracle managed to get in her good graces again, she wouldn't be as foolish. She would speech to them, bare their presence maybe even reveal her secrets to them… But never would she either trust or forgive them completely for the actions they have done. They broke threw her shell once and left her broken and bleeding. Never again… never again.

With a new fire in her stomach she forgot the silly little ideas her mind was spouting and went on her way

She was about to work on the attic but the sound of something beeping stopped her. It was her computer, it was warning her that it had found something.

« 8908, Burlington Street, Point Pleasant, Manitoba. »

Was posted on the computer screen. Shirley hurriedly scribbled down the address, grabbed her coat and headed towards the garage.

Two hours later the young sleuth had finally reached her destination except it was not what she expected. Shirley had expected to find her grandfather, from her mother's side, in a nice big house since he seemed to be very wealthy. But instead of that she was presently standing in front of a clinic. But what shocked her the most was the fact that the sign read:

" Welcome to Point Pleasants mental institution… "

The familiar feeling of curiosity swept over as she made her way threw the corridors of the clinic. With the help of an overly chatty doctor, who was in desperate need of rest, Shirley had managed to find three simple things about her grand- father.

The first one being that the people responsible for him being administrated into this clinic were her very own parents! Her parents! Geez, you'd think that they could at least find a minute in their busy schedule to just launch « Hey! By the way your grandfather, the one who is alive is crazy so were locking him up! Okay? » I mean could that be too much to ask? It's almost as if they thought that SHE would never find out! It's sad really, she would of thought that her parents knew her well enough to figure out that she hasn't been so ignorant since she started crawling, guess not.

Moving along now before things get out of control in my mind. The second thing that she found out were the essentials. In other words the room he was in, the gravity of his condition ect.

Last but not least was the reason behind his condition. Her grandfather though his family was cursed and that soon, that curse, would be fulfilled. It's silly really but somehow she doesn't seem to find the idea of being cursed so far fetched. Just another in her unusual life I guess.

Well here it is the door she was sent to. Shirley slowly walks in and sees her grandfather. His hair was white as snow or at least what was left of it by now. He seemed to be in good shape for an old man although his wrinkled skin would give you the idea to think otherwise. She had his eyes, she noted, except his seemed to be joyful yet also shadowed with worry. Shirley smiles at him and opens her mouth to speak but before she could, the old man's eyes set upon her face.

Once seeing recognition of who she is in her grandfather's eyes, she awaited for him to greet her with a hug as only a grandfather would. But to the sleuth's great surprise, the man suddenly grasped a hand over his chest as he started gasping for air. His heart was giving out.

Doctors rushed threw the door trying in vein to revive him. But it was no use.

An hour has pasted since these events and the young sleuth was still standing in the room, not believing the irony of events. A woman came up to her and handed her an ivory coloured envelope, saying that her grandfather wanted her to have this before he died. He had said that it was important.

The sleuth looked down at the writing on the envelope it simply read «_ Miranda _»


	3. The curse

Shirley slowly started to open the letter that was given to her from her grand-father But the secrets that it contained would change her life forever, though she would not know how much until later on.

It read of the curse that she would carry out in the very near future, here is what it said;

Dear Miranda 

You might not remember this but this was the name you were given the first time you were born. It was November 22 of the year 1912, you were born into a world of wealth and held a promising future of a maiden who would become a trophy wife.

_You grew up happy and had friends from the richest to the poorest people of the village of Point Pleasant, but that was not to last for at that time women had no say in life. At the age of twelve Henri Roseaumbawer asked your father for your hand in marriage, he accepted. You were forced into marriage to a man of seven-teen years of age that you did not love and he did not love you either. He wanted you to be his wife for two simple reasons. Your birth name was the most respected one threw out the country. As for the second reason, you were the most beautiful girl of the village and every wealthy man would envy him for having such a trophy to show around, as he wanted._

_Barely eight months later you gave birth to a daughter, Katie, she had beautiful curly blond hair with your clear blue eyes. You spent all your time with her and you loved her with all of your heart, she was your secret, your love child, a child conceived the night before your wedding to Henri. But he knew none of this at the time, if he had he would of long since imprisoned the boy named B.F.W. who had stolen your heart. He had tried to convince you to go away with him, where nobody knew you and you could start a life together, but no matter you could not disgrace your family in such a manner. So you gave the boy the one thing you would not let Henri have, and so it ended at least until four years latter when you had reached sixteen years of age while he was a year older._

_Exactly two weeks after your sixteen birthday you were giving birth to your second child unfortunately this one was Henry's, for you vowed to be a faithful wife. Yet to your regret six months after your son was born, Henri found out about Katie's true origins. You had been planning to run away with Katie's true father, bringing along with you both your children, unable to stand Henry's monstrous ways any longer. So he seeks revenge on both of you by turning to the dark arts. The Hell furrys are a clan of witches who are born from hell itself and live for the taste of revenge._

_They bestowed a curse upon you, one that took your soul away from your body. You were to be reborn three generations later, inside the body of your youngest female descendant. As for the boy you love, Henri killed him when he threw him off of the mations roof. _

_Finding out of your husband's plans you quickly sent your children away the very night of the incident. You had sent them with Maria, a gypsy girl who had sensed powerful dark magic lurking within the house. But young Katie did not understand why they were leaving you behind, not wanting to go on with out you she ran back inside the house. Maria tried to go after her as fast as she could while trying her best not the shake the six-month-old child. But by the time she had gotten the doors, they had closed and were sealed by a spell. By so, Katie was cursed, along with every other living soul inside the house. They were all trapped in the confines of the house, never to come out again until five months before the curse would be complete._

_The curse consist that exactly sixteen years and a month after you've been reborn, one of the hell furrys would come and take your soul and body into the confines of Rose-Red, your house. With the slight exception that by the time you would wake, everything about the life you have lead up until that moment would be forgotten, replaced with the memories of your life as Miranda._

_Everything would be exactly as it was before except this time around B.F.W. would not come to Rose-Red, he would not come to work at Rose-Red to cover up his intentions of taking you away from it. _

_This would in turn assure that you would not try to leave Rose-Red and once you have past the five months you could no longer leave. Never…_

_This is why I urge you to find help or at least confide in a friend so that he or she could attempt a rescue by returning to the house or I don't know. But you cannot let him keep you for eternity, especially since he does not make you happy._

_Please mother, find help…_

_Sincerely Peter Rosembauer, son of Henri and Miranda Rosembauer, younger brother of Katie Rosembauer._

« He really was crazy »

Seemed to be the only thing the sleuth could think of at the present moment. With that she went back home in a rather dazed state.

Two days had pasted since the incident at Point Pleasant mental clinic. Shirley had refused to believe any of what the letter said, even if the story did sound frightenly familiar and could practically remember everything that happened, even some things that were not mentioned.

Although that didn't mean she wasn't curious. She decided to look up this so called Rose-Red place and found that an old dilapidated mansion seemed to match with the name. And by pure irony it is situated in Point- Place.

Luckily she found a news clipping that had been scanned onto the web, it went along with a picture of the building. It was not a story about the house's structure or potential as she first presumed it would be. It was at the time front-page news.

The young sleuth's eyes kept widening as she read on with the story. This was what it said:

Tragedy at Rose-Red

On Tuesday May 9 1929 a terrible tragedy has befallen on our community. At a quarter to ten the policemen were reported to have arrived at the Rosembauer residence otherwise known as Rose-Red. It is with great shock that we learn that Henri Rosembauer along with his children have disappeared. His wife Miranda Rosembauer was found lifeless in the ballroom. No sign of attack has yet to be found, the sixteen year old women seems to have just simply laid down and for causes unknown past away. Furthermore any staff member presents the night before have not yet been located. It seems to the professionals eyes as if they had all vanished. However we have found evidence that a gypsy girl by the name of Maria Wolfang who had been employed by the rosembauers, abducted their one and only son. Her whereabouts have not yet been confirmed. To add more to this mysterious occurrence the police have found the body of a young man near the garden. The report states that he has fallen taking a twenty feet fall from the top of the third floor to the cement ground below. We will keep you informed of this matter as it progresses.

But still she refused to believe any of it, preferring to try and fool herself into believing that the vague memories that pass threw her mind was all figments of imagination. But all that changed that very night when her dreams were clouded by darkness and the image of a man with black hair, long nose, brown eyes thirsty with revenge and dressed in old fashioned clothing from the beginning of the last century haunted her.

The man kept on getting closer and closer to her like a predator who was about to kill it's

Prey, it seemed as if there was no hope of escaping. Then out of nowhere a bright light cut threw the darkness and the man disappeared along with the clouds that had surrounded them.

All she could see now was light. There was voice also, a southing and familiar one at that it kept saying

" _Miranda…Miranda…Miranda…"_

With that she woke up from her dream, Shirley had been covered in a cold sweat and was gasping for air to fill her lungs again. It was only after that that she started to see a pattern that had been happening lately without her knowing.

She had slowly started to stop being interested in crimes and solving them, starting to get worried that her parents might notice her dirty stalking. She was making sure every day that her hair was well placed and that her school uniform was clean and pressed. She had started to smile and nod to complete strangers who were looking at her as she made her way to school and so on. Lately she had often preferred wearing skirts and dress instead of her pants. She had started to wear less and lesser of her hats and the only time she had her backpack on her was when she went to school.

All and all it seemed as if she was starting to act more and more like a proper lady from the nineteen hundreds. Those thoughts seem to of stroke a cord, she decided to check her diary to see when exactly was her last entry. After the Bo fiasco she had bought a new one and put the old one away in one of those big boxes along with the rest of the stuff. But this one truly was a real diary, it had more than three dozens of pages filled on every day stuff and not one case had been jolted down in this book. Which was rather odd for her.

Continuing along she turned to the last entry. It had been a day before she had received the phone call from her grandfather. At first nothing about it seemed unusual until she glanced at the years she had jolted down, 1928, was what she had written. It took her aback considering that Miranda had been her age in that year.

It wasn't until she decided to take a glance towards the end of the entry that her breath caught in her throat. There instead of her signature, she had signed _Miranda R. _

The worst part is that the time of the entry, Miranda R. did not exist in her mind. Her grandfather had called moments after she had finished the entry. Shirley felt like she had been hit with a tone of brick. She had had enough; she needed to see the face of Miranda Rosembauer. She needed to know what exactly this woman who had changed her life looked like.

The sleuth remembered that all of the old family photos were stored away in a concealed room in the north wing of the house. She had never went up to see what was hidden there before cause she was to busy with her mystery's.

It did not take her long to find what she was looking for. On the left wall of the dusty room was a big frame with the name Miranda S. Rosembauer in graved in gold beneath it. But she could not make out the face that was in it for it was covered in dust. With one swift movement of her hand the dust was gone and that face was revealed

Shirley's eyes widened for the girl she was looking at was… herself…


	4. The rath of a Holmes

She had panicked. She knew she shouldn't have had but she did. Shirley had really needed someone to talk to so she had called the usually very chatty Alicia. She had managed to convince her to come over so she could tell Alicia about everything, Alicia reluctantly gave in.

And now what? You may ask. Now she was presently telling Alicia everything and could only watch as the face of the girl who used to be her friend became more and more enraged and disgusted. But the girl held her tongue until the sleuth was done telling her tale. Even if she did look like she swallowed a pint of pure lemon juice while doing it.

" YOUR UNBELIEVABLE! "

Alicia yells at the top of her lungs

" And here I thought you wanted to apologise for the way you treated Bo and Heather. Guess I couldn't of been more wrong. Turns out you just wanted me here so you could invent a sob story and get a little attention for it! God what is wrong with you? "

" You know what Alicia, nothings wrong with cause I cant help the way I feel or the way I am. It's just me and I am going to stay that way until I die. I panicked when I saw the photo so I called you, that was a mistake and I knew that the second you hung up. I have a huge problem and you don't want to help me with it fine! But at least I don't go around dropping my friends because of a girl I barely know made an assumption that she was jealous of them! "

Shirley yelled at Alicia with the same force. Both were holding back tears, neither understood how it had came to this in such a short amount of time. Alicia for one was rather shocked she hadn't heard Shirley scream at anybody ever before. The only time was when she and Bo where having it all out in the middle of Sussex's corridor.

" Here. "

Shirley said handing Alicia her diary.

" What? "

Alicia said, roughly confused as to why Shirley was handing over her new Diary to her.

" I have a feeling I need to keep it safe for some reason and that I cant let Henri get it, so am giving it to you and hope you'll keep it safe for me. "

Alicia just snorted as she took the diary and made her way to the door while shacking her head in disapproval. Still not believing she had ever mistaken Shirley for a friend instead of an attention-seeking brat.

The weekend past by painstakingly slow. This growing feeling of dread in her stomach kept getting worse threw out the weekend.

It wasn't long until she had to stick to the bathroom door to throw up a couple of times. And yet the pain did not subside, it kept getting worse. Shirley literally felt as if someone was burning her insides out.

For her the pain was a warning, she guessed it was safe to assume her prediction to be precise when Sunday evening came to a close. Shirley now officially had no more than twenty- four hours to live her life the way she knew it. There was now not a single doubt in her mind that she was the reincarnation of Miranda Rosembauer.

One would think to be sad at a time like this but not our young sleuth. Being cursed to her now seemed to be an everyday occurrence. Nobody knew this of course, she hadn't even told Bo about it. The truth is she had thought herself cursed since she could walk.

When you thought about it, it made sense. Now, she knew that her parents and gran loved her but she also knew they had wished her to be different on many occasions. Obviously she had not mentioned to any of them that she had once unintentionally walked in on such a conversation.

To put the story to rest once and for all she thought it best to remember that day for the rest of her life. Remember the day that the three year old Shirley Holmes walked in on a grown ups conversation.

Her mother and father had thought it a good idea for her to be sent to a prepping school in downtown London for young ladies in training. They were saying these things about the way she acted.

They thought it not normal for a child to be snooping about trying to learn everything she can about anything, especially at such a young age. After all curiosity did kill the cat.

Any who she was stuck in the god-awful place day and night for the exception of few and far in between vacations. She didn't even have a proper summer vacation for her parents insisted that she followed the summer course also, because they were just too busy to spend time with her at the moment.

She was finally pulled out of there only to be told that her mother was presumed dead and that they where moving to Canada to live with her grandma.

And so following she had picked up her detective habits as if nothing had happened. Shirley had managed to find cases at Miss Strauss's school for young ladies, though they were quite pitiful. Now that she was out of that place she had the option of moving on to bigger and better things.

Not long after that she met Bo, one thing led to another and now here she stood as the clock struck one in the morning. IT was Monday and in no less than eight hours she'd have to go to school. Usually she would be in bed by now but for the life of her she could not sleep at the moment. And so she waits…

We were now 8:45 in the morning and Shirley still had not heard a word from Alicia since Saturday night. This somewhat worries her but she doesn't think about it. Shirley is to busy trying to get rid of that sick feeling that's still haunting her stomach.

She heads off for school and arrives oddly enough early. The second she set foot on school grounds the feeling in the pit of her stomach got even worse. It did not take long for her to understand why.

All eyes were on her. They all seemed to be laughing at her, mocking her, each and every one of her fellow's classmates. They were practically bent over double.

She assumed she knew the cause but decided to hold out until she had proof, after all she could just not judge without proof that wouldn't be just. It was almost as if god had heard her thoughts for seconds latter she was a few feet away from Bo, Heather, Molly, Stink, Bart and Alicia. All of them were turned towards Alicia as she told her tale with animations.

" … You guys should of seen her it was so funny! Shirley even made up this story so I would feel sorry for h"

Her analysis on trust had been right from the start. No one should be trusted with her secrets, much less a flake like Alicia. The odd thing though, is that Shirley may have told Alicia her deepest secret, but she wasn't exactly sure she had ever trusted the girl with it. She had willingly given the little Italian the information even when she had known that her fellow Sussex classmate would only use it as means to hurt her. Yet Shirley did not feel the least bit hurt, not even by a fraction, she felt furiously enraged instead. She did not care what others thought, She didn't care what THEY thought. And so she realised that she set herself up for this. But why? Though the question stayed unanswered she had a hunch it had something to do with this urge shocking every part of her being. Shirley had most definitely felt like this before. She had just simply refrained from acting upon it… Well for the most part… But now…

Alicia was cut off by the sound of someone clapping his or her hands together. They turned to face an all to familiar face as she spoke.

" Well, well, well aren't we the storyteller or are you practising for the role of the little girl who called wolf too many times?"

Alicia's eyes practically popped out of their sockets once she heard the familiar voice. Suddenly feeling sick to the stomach she turned to face it's owner as it spoke up again.

" I feel like I should be surprised, but then again I never expected better from you so why should I?"

Alicia felt really bad by now and wanted nothing more than to get out of there and crawl into a hole followed by a quick death. Molly and Heather were both grinning wickedly.

" Can we help you Holmes? "

Molly asked trying to sound innocent. Even an idiot could understand that her voice was dripping with sarcasm and that she was sadistically enjoying every minute of this.

" No actually I was just listening to the story that Alicia was telling. Oh don't mind me please continue. "

Shirley replied just as sarcastically as her enemy. Which only served as embarrassment to a deeply blushing Alicia who simply swallowed the lump in her throat and turned back towards her friends to witness their reactions. Bo had considerably tensed, his eyes seemed to be shocked and surprised. It was probably to be expected really because this was the first time Shirley had so much as dared to walk up to them since the fight happened. The look on his face seemed however to be expressing tiredness and a foul taste in his mouth. He made no move or gave any indications that he was so much as going to look at the sleuth. Stink and Bart however were a different case altogether. They were looking at each other back and forth as if not sure how to take in the new twist in events.

Heather giving up all pretences of polite conversation let her face turn into a snarl and addressed the sleuth in question.

" Excuse me but who invited you "

The spite clearly read in her voice. Shirley just ignored it and continued on as if this was a simple and friendly conversation.

" No one actually. I just decided to drop in and see what was going on. Why? "

Threw out this little monologue you could see if you paid attention that Bo Sawchucks fists were getting paler and paler as his anger rose within seconds. The face he had been putting on earlier became quickly underlined with fury. And finally, not being able to stand the girl's presence anymore he spoke.

" Cause we don't want you here "

Bo stated firmly with his mind made up. Shirley just looked around as if no one had spoken to her and finally laid her eyes on her once loyal sidekick. He was glaring daggers at her with his eyes and seemed to be screaming bloody murder. She just smiled at him, not in a mocking way or conspiratorial one, but the way she used to smile at him when they would spend hours together either solving a case or just hanging out. This made the blond falter in his gaze as he looked at her questioningly. Finally in a calm sweet voice she replied.

" Watch your tongue there, no proper gentlemen would speak to a lady in such a tone and I am sorry but I do believe you have no power over were I go and what I do. Isn't that right Mr. Sawchuck? "

" Just go! " he reinforced

These words only seemed to amuse the young sleuth more then before as her smile broadened and a dangerous glint was displayed in her eyes. A glint, which could easily be described as a twinkle of mischief, that is if you are not on the receiving end of the cunning act of mischief. As it is, it seems that for Bo, Alicia, Bart, Molly, Heather and Stink there luck had finally run out.

" Or else what? You'll chase me away with a stick and lock me up in a cage because I've been a bad little girl? "

Shirley's smile turned into what Bo could only describe as a cute little pout. May god have mercy on his soul for thinking such ludicrous things, after all the sleuth in front of him was nothing but an attention seeking uptown European brat! Wasn't she… even so he could not help but feel sadness at the though that they were no longer friends, oh well…

Shirley seemed calm and collected, she even seemed awfully happy. Bo did not like this he did not like this at all. She was supposed to be a wreck and begging for his forgiveness. He was supposed to be holding all the cards. But seeing her act this way told him differently, she had all the cards and she didn't care one bit about their friendship or else she would be giving him his space and waiting until he throws her a line. Which he of course would never do considering what she did, but still…

" Shirley-"

He started slowly and unsurely but was cut off.

" Don't call me that"

Shirley said in a voice that seemed to be laced with danger and an unimaginable amount of fury as her eyes narrowed threateningly. Gone was the cute little pout, now replaced with a face

set in stone, one not to be trifled with. This seemed to draw confused and shocked faces, even from Heather and Molly. As for the rest of the student body they had all fallen deathly silent, abandoning all pretences of being occupied as they, in their own minds, subtly listened in on the conversation. Acts gone it was as clear as day that the sleuth had the floor and no one else.

" Why? "

Bo asked, his voice dripping somewhat with fear and worry. In this moment in time you could read the teenage boy like a book. He was, despite his best efforts against it, worried about Shirley and her odd behaviour was making him fear the consequences of the sleuth's sometimes-rash defence mechanisms. He had unknowingly inched closer to her while his arms were reaching out, wanting to hug her and make everything better. But before he could, she answered.

" Because only people who are close to me can call me that and guess what Sawchuck, you weren't good enough to make the list. You can refer to me as Miss Shirley Miranda Holmes or Lady Holmes whichever you prefer."

A punch in the face, that's how it felt.

" But"

Bo looked away as if he had been stung. Poor him, he had taken the allure of a lost little boy as he stuttered over that simple word.

" No save it. You know what's sad though? It's the fact that I actually thought you were my friend Alicia. As for you Bo you only took stuck by Heather because she was

giving you head in the back seat of your car. Stink your like a pathetic idiot, you follow Molly around without realising that she is just not interested or that she spends her lunch breaks screwing the brains out of all the jocks in the school in the back of the locker room. And you Bart are just a scared little boy with a huge case of puppy love following its master around! Goodbye now. "

Shirley started on her way to class for classes were about to begin but Molly wouldn't just let go while she still had the chance of coming out of this confrontation relatively intact. Oh well guess I'll just have to fix that was the sleuth's thought.

" And who exactly do you think you are? "

" Certainly not a sluttish little streetwalking bitch with a twisted liking for torture and mind games unlike you Molly dearest. "

Everybody just froze as Shirley said this. As long as they knew her they had never once witnessed Shirley using such a fowl language. It surprised them to the point of their mouths hanging open. Shirley just grinned and walked away with one last sentence leaving her mouth

" Cat got your tongues?"


	5. The shadow of my reckonning

Shirley did not see neither one of them lurking in the corridors whispering about her after her little confrontation. She was now within the confines of her house awaiting the hell furry for she knew that tonight was the night that they would come and take her. Threw out the entire day her stomach had been churning, as if trying to warn her from dangers to come. She let her mind wonder to the clan of people she had once upon a time been friends with. It was a shame that their relationships had ended in such a manner but knew it was for the best. Even if she hadn't of had this curse bestowed on her it was still better if they no longer had ties. She was a detective threw and threw no matter what and friendship was not a luxury one such as herself could afford.

What had she been thinking? Befriending people like THEM and actually trying to maintain the healthy fellowships? Kind of made her wonder if a piano had fallen on her head after arriving in Reddington. Truthfully it would make more sense that way for she knew what they were. Alicia was a gold digging teen bopper, Bart was a paranormal researcher want to be, who when an actual case of the supernatural kind falls into his lap, he believes it nothing more but the babblings of a neurotic sleuth. Bo was nothing more than a hormone driven teenage male who like any other would only pay attention to girls who walked around like pieces of meat, his brain was located no where near his head. He seemed to think that his criminal record gave him extra points in the sex appeal department. As for Stink, well his name should clue you in.

It was five past nine and she was still waiting, a book in her hands to pass the time. She made sure that Watson had plenty of food in his bowl. Every room in the house had been cleaned, she was rather anxious to get this over with.

The sad part is that she knew that this time there was no way of escaping what was to come that night. Shirley just hoped that her parents wouldn't worry too much about her even if she already knew that they would.

She hoped that Alicia would come to read the diary once she found news of her disappearance. Shirley slipped her grandfathers letter along with one of her own. The letter she had wrote was to say goodbye and to make sure that at least somebody would be there to help her parents threw this difficult time to come even if it was somebody who had managed to betray her twice in the last couple of months. Shirley had also slipped in a photo, it was taken the summer of 1927, just before Miranda had become with child again. On it was Miranda standing on the right with Henri at her side and three year old Katie in front of them. They stood in front of their house and both Miranda and Katie were smiling a content one while Henri sported a frown.

With these thoughts in mind Shirley waited for her undying curse to come.

It was almost midnight.

Suddenly out of nowhere a cloud of darkness appeared, out of it raised a figure cloaked in black. Shirley barely had time to react when the hell furry started to chant incantations. The sleuth recognised the language used as Latin having used it for prayers often at Misses Strauss's school. Though she knew she could not be able to escape she still refused to go down with out a fight.

The sleuth hurriedly got to her feet and ran towards the doors that lead to the staircase that would lead her up to her room. But just as she suspected the doors slammed shut and locked just before she reached them. Every memory she had in this house suddenly decided to make an appearance. It was too much at once but miraculously she still managed to keep her mind somewhat calm and on the problem at hand.

Shirley started to kick and punch the wood that was keeping her from escaping. It was only until that she was thrown backwards into the air that she realised that there had been a glowing field around the doors. The sleuth figured this was just another clever idea the hell furry had to keep their prey from actually having a fighting chance at running away from their grasp.

She fell head first on the floor, hitting her arm on the coffee table at her left. Her vision blurred as she tried to regain her composure and get up, going for plan B. but as she did so, she finally took notice of the little blue vortex that hung in mid- air. It was the shape of a circle and kept growing each and every passing second. Guessing this was the gateway she tried her best to stay far away from it but she barely had time to look back at the figure that was sending her to her own personal hell before she felt her body being tugged towards the vortex's grasp. This was it, no more running, game over and thank you for coming folks. Who would of thought that this would be happening to her of all people.

But before she went. Before the vortex sucked her inside she managed to catch a glimpse of the figures face. It did not take her a single second to recognise the familiarity behind the hood.

The young sleuth was not surprised by who it was, she had even expected it deep down inside of her. Shirley knew she had been right, her detective skills almost never failed her and she had vowed herself to never become a detective if her instincts had lead her wrong about her.

The sleuth took one last long look at the red head's face before disappearing inside the vortex and forgetting everything from who she was to the people she knew. Left with only the memories of the life she had lead seventy-seven years ago…

It was a bright and promising Tuesday morning as Bo Sawchuck woke up to the sound of his radio-alarm clock. « First day of the rest of your life » by MXPX was playing on the radio. Though he loved the song very much, he did not understand why they had to make it all about how they missed someone they lost.

Thoughts set a side he skipped his way down to the kitchen, not knowing what was awaiting for him that day. If he had he might of decided to stay locked up in his room pretending that this would be normal behaviour. None the less he went to greet his parents good morning.

Bo was grinning ear to ear so much he was glad that today was a beautiful day outside. Everything that had happened the previous day lay forgotten in his memory, or so he liked to tell himself. He had made a promise to himself the previous night, he was going to get back at Shirley for crossing the line one too many times, she had made him seem like such a fool. When he arrived downstairs he first spotted his mother who was busying herself at making breakfast.

It was not until he had greeted her with his wide grin on his face that he saw the grim expression she was wearing, or the way she seemed to make sure that her hands were busy. He turned towards his father who was playing around with his food instead of eating it. With so Bo decided to voice his concern.

" What's wrong? Why do you both look like somebody just died? "

His parents did not answer, they just turned on the television to let their son see for himself.

" Our breaking news today is that of a mysterious case. A young girl, sixteen of age is missing. The only signs that were found inside her house were odd drawings left on the walls and floors. Apparently the girl's parents were out of town along with her grad-mother leaving her alone in the big house. There were some signs of struggle and a bracelet was found discarded on the floor. Police think that it may have belonged to the attacker, if indeed there was an attacker. The only reason the authorities were notified was because the neighbours were complainning about a disturbing noise, none of them had any idea of what they had stumbled across. As for the private school of Sussex, they will be taking the day off from school so that detective Marquee can question them on their missing classmate Shirley Holmes…"

Bo froze, his fork falling to the floor with a clatter, he felt as if his whole world were crumbling down on him. He could not breath everything around him was spinning. His thoughts returned to the last time they had spoken to each other. It was far from being a friendly conversation.

The memories were too much for him to handle at the moment so he tuned out everything. His parents, the TV, the phone ringing, he had become numb in the end there was only one thing he could clearly hear in his mind

"Not a lot right now makes sense to me  
And it won't go quietly  
Not a lot right now makes sense to me  
And it won't sit patiently

I'm gonna chase my dreams and catch up to them  
I'm gonna find you some how, some way, somewhere, some day

First day of the rest of our lives, I miss you already  
Last time I saw that look in your eyes, I miss you already  
First day of the rest of our lives, I miss you already  
Last time I saw that look in your eyes, I miss you already

I don't want to spend the rest of my life alone  
Where's life taking me?  
I don't want to spend the rest of my life alone  
Always traveling

I'm gonna chase my dreams and catch up to them  
I'm gonna find you some how, some way, somewhere, some day

First day of the rest of our lives, I miss you already  
Last time I saw that look in your eyes, I miss you already  
First day of the rest of our lives, I miss you already  
Last time I saw that look in your eyes, I miss you already

I wanna love my job  
I wanna love my life  
But most of all, I wanna fall in love

First day of the rest of our lives, I miss you already  
Last time I saw that look in your eyes, I miss you already  
First day of the rest of our lives, I miss you already  
Last time I saw that look in your eyes, I miss you already"

Bo, Alicia, Bart and Stink were all waiting for the arrival of inspector Marquee. They were all here for one reason and one reason only, Shirley. Each and every one of them had been called up earlier that morning. The inspector wanted to interrogate them about Shirley since they used to be friends. The police were curious to find out if any of them had reasons to believe that somebody wanted to kidnap the girl. Problem was the only time they had spoken to Shirley this last month was yesterday, lets just say that that conversation wasnt exactly something to be proud of.

The worst part was that all of them were still under the shock of the news. Bo himself hadn't even had more then five minutes between the time he found out and the time he received the call.

Alicia was trying to be strong, but failed miserably. She was crying and couldn't stop and to everyone's surprise she wasn't wearing any make-up. She didn't even have her usual high heels or fashionable outfit, not even her nails were done. The only clothes she was wearing was a very loose pink t-shirt along with matching sweat pants and running shoes. To top it off her hair was all in knots and hadn't even been combed yet. All and all she was a wreck.

Bart was not bragging about hypothesis that supernatural elements were involved in Shirley's disappearance. Although he did have his doubts, he would have to ask if he could see Shirley's house later on but for now he would keep his assumption to himself

To summarise the situation everyone was silent, which was odd considering Stink was in the group of awaiting teenagers. He hadn't cracked a joke all day, didn't even say hello just sat down on a bench with this odd frown on his face.

" Do any of you have any idea about who might want to harm Miss Holmes? "

Silence.

" Nothing? "

Silence.

" Do any of you know if she had been receiving threats of some kind lately? "

Silence yet again.

" Fine then, is there one of you that can recognise this? We believe it might have belonged to the attacker "

Detective Marquee asked as he pulled out a heart shaped locket. Bos eyes widened but he did not say a word. He just sat there waiting for this pointless interrogation to be over and soon enough it was…


End file.
